Vegan cream of mushroom soup

Hi everyone. I'm a vegetarian rather than vegan, but have recently been branching out into trying some vegan dishes - so I present to you my vegan cream of mushroom soup! It uses cashew nuts instead of cream to add the creaminess without overpowering the mushroom's subtle flavour.

You can check out a couple of photos at my blog post about it here - the rest of my blog is vegetarian rather than vegan, but if you click the 'vegan' tag, there are a few other vegan recipes on there too :)

I'm sure that using cashews in creamy soups is nothing new to a lot of you, but I was pretty excited to learn the trick - it's a lot better for you than using a load of cream anyway. Does anyone have any other suggestions for a vegan dish that I can use cashews in? (I have most of a pack left over, and don't really like eating them on their own!)

(mods: I'm new here, so if I've done anything wrong, please let me know and I'll be only too happy to change it!)

Serves 2

1/2 an onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

20g vegan butter or 1tbsp sunflower oil

400g mushrooms, sliced

1 stock cube, made up with 500ml boiling water

Black pepper

30g raw, unsalted cashew nuts

4tbsp water

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and gently soften the onion and garlic over a low heat. After a few minutes, add the mushrooms and continue to cook slowly.

Meanwhile, add the cashew nuts and water to a blender, and process until smooth and creamy.

Add the stock to the mushrooms, and season with black pepper. Cook for a few more minutes.

Add the mushroom mix to the blender with the cashew cream, and blend into a smooth soup. Serve with crusty bread.